Really Don't Understand My Brothers Aggressive Cat..

[Memilas]

Hi all

First post here, any advice would be appreciated although to be honest I can't see this problem getting solved, just interested in any input.

So, basically long story short sometimes my brother and his partner go on holiday, and when they do I get asked to come to their house and look after the cat.

I've done this four or five times now for periods ranging from a few days to two weeks. The problem is the cat is quite aggressive.

First time I looked after him was the 2 week long stint. At first he was curious but then attacked me after 2 days, this lasted about a week, then suddenly he's being the sweetest thing ever rubbing into me and even sleeping under the bed covers. Great i think, next time it'll be fine.

Well no. On all subsequent visits (including the one I'm currently doing) he's back to attacking me. I can literally be sitting there doing my own thing, won't even look at him and he'll just casually make his way over, look at me for a bit then go for me.

He cries for hours on end sometimes and is just generally miserable. I want to comfort him but I don't want lacerated..I've even had to resort to shutting him out of the room I'm in while I sleep while he cried outside, but if I let him in he'll attack me. It sucks.

I should mention he's an un neutered male house cat, and I'm thinking this is probably his issue. I also have a female cat at my own house (sweetest cat ever would literally never even touch a person in anger) and a dog, so maybe it's a scent from one of them too? He does sniff the stuff from my house and lot.

What do you think? Sorry that was a bit longer than intended but I'd really like to hear any theories.

 

[calicosrspecial]

I would do a couple of things.

I deal with ferals, some can be pretty defensive and scared.

My attitude and body language is really important when dealing with them. So it is really important to be calm and confident around cats. Cats can sense if we are tense or worried so their instinct is to get defensive when they sense something isn't right. But if we act like everything is cool they tend to relax.

How exactly does he attack you?

I use food and play to build trust between myself and a cat. Is it possible to play with him? After play feed either treats or a meal.

Never stand over a cat. Never reach from above to a cat.

It could be the scents that are causing his behavior. But there is not much we can do about that other than build his confidence and associate those scents with positive things like play and food.

The other benefit of play and food is after a cat "Hunts (plays) and eats" they tend to groom and/or go to sleep. Play can not only build confidence and positive association but it can tire them out.

The more I understand the attacks I may be able to better understand the what is going on. It could be a play thing or it could be an aggressive thing. But I don't know why the cat would fear you.

Cats don't want to be aggressive so the more territorially secure and confident we get him and the more we make a positive association I think he should get out of this.

Please don't apologize for the length of the post. The more information the better. I am happy to help.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Other than what C calicosrspecial has suggested (which is EXCELLENT advice), I would gently encourage him to have his cat neutered. You might mention that it will give him some protection from certain hormone-driven cancers.

 

[Elfilou]

I expect that getting him neutered and playing with him daily will make him a much, much more content cat. Happy cat = happy humans.

 

[danteshuman]

The only thing I would add is avoid eye contact. Our semi feral still gets twitchy with eye contact, so I avoid it with him with possible. My problem child cat also dislikes eye contact though he tolerates it better. I use eye contact more when he is hunting his brother as more of a 'hey you, yeah I see you.' I also do the slow blink often with him. You can try the slow blink with your brother's cat. Close your eyes for 1-3 seconds, open, repeat 5-10 more times. Cats view eye contact as aggression/threat. Closed eyes/slow blinks = I trust you/ love you.